


Sunflower Filled Coffin

by Seaisme



Category: Hotel Transylvania (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-04-24 07:58:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19169068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seaisme/pseuds/Seaisme
Summary: It all starts with a misstep, and the fall leads to a landing no one expected. (Summary under reconstruction but story is on hold due to a death in my family)





	1. Chapter 1

Drac sighed happily before looking at the flower shop in front of him from under his parasol. He wasn't used to being out of the castle during the day, however he was unable to sleep. And instead of staying in the hotel, walking through the halls for the millionth time, to get inspiration for an excuse to paint, today he felt a bit of wonder lust would inspire him and decided to go and explore the village that surrounded the hotel. A little adventure, granted it was so far a harmless one, was doing him some good.That's when the flowers caught his eye, there were roses of every color, bouquets of every size, for just about any occasion. He could most certainly see why this shop was popular.

He took a moment before going inside, following the order of a sign that said "open". He chuckled to himself, collapsing his parasol down, that a mere sign could allow him entry anywhere nowadays unlike needing spoken permission to do so a hundred or so years ago. He walked along the shade, looking at the rainbow of colors that were in every pot that sat on a table or was suspended by hooks, at every wrapped bouquet that was wrapped up and resting in a plastic flower pot with water to keep the flowers alive. Oh, the things he could paint now that he had inspiration. All from the beautiful flowers around him. Maybe he should purchase a bouquet to paint, so he wouldn't have to rely on memory so much. He could always give the flowers to Mavis after he was finished painting-

"Oof!"

Drac felt something collide with his chest, dropping his parasol and hearing something crash to the floor. He quickly looked down to see a woman stepping back and rubbing her nose, and that there were broken clay pieces and dirt from a flower pot on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Drac asked as she looked up at him.

Her face went from a mild scrunch to having a blush form on her cheeks as she looked at his face, a shimmer going across her eyes. She began to chuckle, in what Drac took as an embarrassed fashion. "Uh, y- yeah." She smiled at him, "c- can I help you?"

Drac brushed this off, deciding she was overworked and that was the cause of her behavior instead of what he saw. He was content where he was, so he didn't need another in his life. Right? "Oh, yes. I'm looking for a bouquet. Something... colorful," he said, deciding on the word. "To help with inspiring me to paint."

"Ah!" Came the response, her bright blue eyes lighting up. "Right this way, Mr..?"

"Dracula. My name's Dracula." He said, wanting to be polite as well as make up for not introducing himself earlier.

"'Dracula'? As in The Dracula?" Her eyes went to his again. "My name is Ericka Van Helsing."

Drac's eyes widened, she didn't mean. Surely, she couldn't be serious.

"Don't my last name fool you, I'm actually a big fan of yours." Ericka rattled on, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the flowers with a smile.

"I- I should be going. Uh, vampires and daylight, you know.." he chuckled nervously, trying to pull away.

"Oh come now, surely that's a myth!" Ericka said, still having a grip on his arm as she looked up at him.

Drac began to sweat. "I can assure you, it most certainly isn't." He could feel the sun tickling his skin on the edge of the shadows. "I am so sorry, but I must go. Now!"

He pulled free of her arm and, not taking any chances of being trapped inside, took off running at an enhanced speed out of the shop. A trail of smoke in his wake as he ran in daylight.

Ericka looked at where he stood, and honestly felt bad that he left. She was so happy he was there. Until later when she was cleaning up the mess by the counter. She saw his parasol amidst the dropped clay pot and dirt on the tile floor, deciding to return it to him.

Drac made it back to the hotel, going right to his room. He could feel his skin burning as though it was on fire, that old feeling from eleven years ago, but he put that aside as he began to use his Bluetooth headset.

"Johnny? Can you wake up Mavis? It's important."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drac tells Mavis and Johnny about what happened, and thankfully the results are better than what he hoped for.
> 
> And Ericka comes around to bringing the parasol on her break.

_With Mavis & Johnny_

Johnny was snoring, happily asleep, when his phone rang.

"Hmm?" He blindly reached for his phone, his movement at first being blindly touching Mavis. He opened his eyes to blurry vision before he turned to his side, looking at his bedside table, and grabbing his phone. He weakly pulled it to him as he pushed the answer button. "Hello.." he yawned, not seeing that Drac was calling.

 _"Johnny?"_ Came Drac's voice from the other side of the call.

"Hm? Drac? What up?" He asked yawning loudly again.

 _"Can you wake up Mavis? It's important."_ Was all that was asked before the call ended.

Johnny sighed when the call ended before he began stretching, popping his back.

"Was that Dad?" The yawning voice beside him made Johnny jump and fall onto the floor.

Well, Johnny was fully awake now. He peeked up to see Mavis stretching on her side of the bed. "Yeah, babe. But what could he have to call about so early?"

"I don't know, he's normally sleeping right now." Mavis said as she yawned. 

"That's true, let's go see what he wants." Johnny got to his feet, wanting to get this done with and go back to bed.

_With Drac_

Drac paced around his room, ignoring the pain he felt on his skin and the gnawing feeling in his brain that told him to wake up his father. He then shuddered, not wanting to have any conclusions jumped to before he had a chance to explain.

"Calm down, you've got to calm down. You are driving yourself up the wall, Drac.." he muttered to himself, stopping to find that he was in the dead center of his wall and looking down at his floor. He sighed, looking at the blank space where the portrait of Martha himself and Mavis used to hand above his coffin on the wall beside him. "What do I do? What _can_ I do?"

"I'm sure if mom was here, you'd have the answer you were looking for much quicker, Dad." Mavis' voice sounded from the doorway, startling Drac so much he fell onto the floor.

"Mavis! Don't do that! Please!" Drac frowned at his smirking daughter.

"Sorry dad, but to woke us up early with this 'important' thing you wanted to talk about." Mavis said, walking into the room. "And why do you smell like you've been out in the sun? Johnny and I were..." She looked beside her and sighed softly, not seeing Johnny, before she turned to look towards the doorway. "Johnny? It's okay, get in here."

"Sorry!" Johnny peeked his head in, looking at the two. "I didn't know if I had to be invited in or.."

"For the last time, Jonathan, that only applies to vampires like Mavis, dad and myself if we want to enter somewhere new." Drac explained as calmly as he could, which was impressive considering his crisis state earlier.

"Oh, forgot again.." he chuckled nervously as he walked into the room. "Sorry. So, what's up?"

Drac took a deep breath, albeit dramatically, and before he began. "So I couldn't sleep and I decided to embrace a bit of bygone wonder lust by exploring the village during the day to see what was different about the day life, and I saw humans out with their kids and.."

"Dad, the point?" Mavis asked patiently, obviously wanting to get back to sleep.

"Oh, yes!" Drac stopped midramble, before clearing his throat. "I was out walking around, trying to find some inspiration for my painting and I entered a flower shop.."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere." Mavis said, sitting on his father's closed coffin while Johnny lay on his stomach on the floor as they listened to Drac's tale.

Drac frowned as he looked at them, before continuing, "I was looking at the flowers to get inspiration before I bumped into a worker there. I saw her zing but-"

"Whoa! Whoa, stop! Stop!" Mavis got up and walked to Drac, gripping his arms. "You zinged? Holy rabies Dad! That's great!" She was smiling.

"I didn't zing back." Drac said, looking at Mavis. "You only zing once, and my zing was your mother." He sighed, looking at the portrait. He looked back to Mavis. "I didn't zing with her, and it probably wasn't a real zing that happened. But, the other important thing I wanted to tell you was her name."

"Her name? She told you her name and zinged with you?" Mavis was beginning to float up to be eye level with her father. "Dad, remember a few months ago when you spoke to Johnny and I about feeling like it was time for you to move on? About how angry I was? How Johnny had to talk me down and explain that these things happen after you've been alone for so long that you need a change? This is your chance."

"Mavis, honey, calm down." Johnny walked over and wrapped his arms around Mavis' waist, pulling her down gently to him. He looked back at Drac. "You were saying?"

Drac sighed through his nose. "Her name is Ericka Van Helsing, and she runs the flower shop." Drac concluded. "I also lost my parasol, but that's not important."

"Wait? Van Helsing, as in Abraham Van Helsing? The professor said to have hunted you for years?" Johnny asked, suddenly able to give a history tidbit on Drac.

"I think? She said 'don't let the name fool you,' and she was a 'big fan' of mine." Drac said, quoting what he remembered hearing Ericka say.

"Even if she is a Van Helsing, maybe she isn't like the one who chased you?" Mavis asked, looking at Drac.

"Maybe." Drac shrugged in response. "Johnny proved that humans can change."

Mavis sighed, looking up at Drac. "Alright. What do we do about it?"

"I genuinely haven't a clue, my darling." Drac said honestly, looking at his hands. "I don't think she's a threat, but we can't be too careful with a Van Helsing."

"But she zinged with you, so she might be harmless?" Johnny asked, mentally referencing his zing with Mavis when he brought this up.

Mavis then chimed in, "I can take Uncle Frank and Uncle Wayne to look at her flower shop, how about that?"

"No, no. Let's not worry too much about it right now, guys." Drac held his hands up. "Let's all go back to bed for the day and talk about this later tonight, okay?"

Mavis nodded with a sigh, seeing that her father was right. "Alright. But maybe we can find her and talk to her later."

Johnny nodded, "yeah. That sounds like a nice way to formally introduce yourself to her." He suddenly yawned, "okay, so now that that's settled," yawn again, "we should probably go back to .. bed.."

Mavis giggled as her husband was starting to fall asleep, "aww. He's so cute."

Drac sighed, "yeah, sure. He's as cute as the mess Tinkles leaves on the grounds of the hotel." He used his powers to pick Johnny up.

"I got him," Mavis took over to her father, "I'll see you later dad." She kissed his cheek. "I really am happy that this happened, and that you told us first." A smile crossed her face before she walked Johnny out of the room, "good morning."

"Morning Mavy." Drac said with a smile, watching Mavis walk herself and Johnny down the hall. Things were going better than he expected, and he was happy about that.

_With Ericka_

Ericka sighed as she exited her car, feeling the heat from the day beating down on her as she walked up to the hotel with Drac's parasol and a gift in hand. It was her break, so she decided this was the best time to bring the item back to Drac as well as the flowers he was looking at in the shop.

She smiled when she entered the hotel, seeing that there were families of monsters and humans, some a mixture of both, about the lobby. It made her heart swell at seeing all of these happy people and monsters as she made her way to the desk to see a zombie dressed in a red uniform behind it.

"Hello Mr..." Ericka looked at his name tag closely, "Mr. Terry." She greeted him, shifting the flower pot in her hands. 

Terry took his little hat off in a greeting with a rotting smile as he made a generic moaning noise associated with a zombie.

"So polite, sadly I wish everyone I've met so far was this polite." Ericka smiled at him. "I was wondering, Terry, if you could tell Dracula I've returned his parasol and left a gift for him. I would really appreciate it and it would mean so much."

Terry nodded, moving around to take the items from Ericka. He made another noise, gesturing to the computer as he took the items, wanting to know if she had a reservation.

Ericka got it, and then shook her head. "No, sorry. I actually live in the village at the flower shop. I have to go now. Have a good day Terry."

Terry gave a loud noise in goodbye before moving to take the items to Drac's room as instructed. Such a polite non-guest. Terry wished there were more like Ericka around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: To answer the question of why I decided to rewrite, it's because I lost the rp that I was using and decided to go for a fresh new feel for the story. I just needed to stop because I wasn't inspired at the time with work being so crazy and my taking heavy influence from that old rp.
> 
> Also, thank you CountessEricka for being the first response, as well as those who left a kudos! appreciate it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer to get out, but my dog passed away two weeks ago and I was grieving her. Anyways, here it is.

_With Terry_

Terry watched as Ericka left, getting into her car, before taking the items in his arms to Drac's room. He walked down the hall, passing Mavis and Johnny as they left Drac's room. He made a groan noise at them in good morning.

"Morning Terry." Mavis said, smiling at him as the two passed him.

"Hi.. Derry.." Johnny said in a tired voice as they walked away, down the hallway to their room.

Terry moaned good morning to them before going to Drac's door and carefully knocking on the door to avoid Drac's wrath.

"Hello? Who is it?" Drac's voice sounded from within the room, Terry hearing the tiredness of his voice.

A serious of moans left Terry, telling Drac who he was and that he had a few items for him.

"Ah, Terry, come in." Drac's voice was followed by door opening for Terry, to which the zombie was thankful.

Terry stumbled in, setting the flowers on a coffin shaped table and resting the parasol on it. He explained to Drac where the flowers and parasol came from, only to receive a reaction of Drac pinching his nose.

"I should have known.." Drac groaned, Terry giving a confused expression. Drac looked up to see Terry's confused face. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. Thank you for bringing these to me, Terry. Please go back to your post."

Terry gave a simple nod and a half hearted wave goodnight before walking out of the room to go back to his post as ordered. He went down to the front desk, feeling disheartened that Drac was feeling that way about some flowers. He thought they were nice.

_Back with Drac_

Drac mulled over what Terry told him, while he was that Ericka had brought his parasol back, he was ... not expecting to receive the flowers. The gathering of red, blue, and purple flowers, all surrounding a single sunflower. An odd choice, but a strangely beautiful one to the vampire.

Drac's mind wandered to the conversation he had with Mavis and Johnny about this exact thing. About him moving on. This was nice, but Drac wasn't expecting it so soon. Had he gotten in over his head? No, it ... it was a one sided thing. He'd zing eventually, right?

A deep sigh left Drac, he was confusing himself more than what he needed. He decided to take a walk to the kitchen, yeah. A chilly, foamy blood beater sounded amazing right now. He licked his lips slightly as he left his room. Maybe a few rats stuffed with spiders and herbs, covered in a potent deadly nightshade sauce fresh from over a hearth. Perfect, if a little filling. Oh well, he'd work the calories off after he woke up. He needed something, anything, to take his mind off things anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Two Months Ago  
_Drac had Johnny and Mavis with him in a small, private reading room. He wrung his hands, standing with his back to the door, biting his bottom lip in a way that had one of his fangs sticking out._  
_"Are you okay, dad? You look really nervous." Mavis pointed out, looking at his face. Something was up, she knew it._  
_Drac sighed. "No, I mean.. I.." He groaned in exasperation. "I have to talk to the two of you. It.. It's important.."_  
_Mavis walked to him and reached a hand out, taking his and holding it. "Take your time, dad. We're here for you." She smiled, giving him a comforting smile._  
_"Yeah man, we got your back." Johnny said, smiling at him._  
_"Thank you both. I appreciate it." Drac said, looking at the both of them with a smile. He sighed before looking at Mavis. "Okay," he let go of Mavis' hand to run his fingers through his hair. "I uh... look.. I've been feeling, how do I say this?"_  
_Mavis and Johnny waited for him to gather his thoughts before speaking._  
_Drac paused in moving his hair around. "Okay," he looked at them, "I.. I think it's time that I.. Moved on."_  
_Mavis looked at Drac with a curious expression. "What do you mean, 'moving on'?"_  
_Drac took a breath in, before saying. "It's time that I moved on and.. decided to try and find love again."_  
"What do you mean, 'find love again'?" Mavis repeated, her voice sharp and accusing. "What about mom? How is Dennis going to look at what you'll be doing and think that's okay when Zings are meant to be eternal?"  
_Drac let her speak, and yes he had thought of that. The love of his life had been dead and gone for almost as long as their darling Mavis had been alive._  
"They're meant to last a life time. And what, your going to throw that away?" Mavis finished, a deep set frown on her face. __  
_Drac sighed before looking at her. "My darling.. please understand. Your mother, as painful as it is to say, is no longer here. Listen to me when I say that while yes, I have so much love for my family, my heart craves for a love like the one I shared with your mother all that time ago so badly it hurts. When I see happy couples, be it guests or your aunts and uncles, I have to turn away to not feel that pain of loneliness and longing even if it's for a brief moment." Drac's face was set in an expression of sadness and vulnerability as he poured his heart out to Mavis and Johnny, the latter listening silently and seeming to wait for Drac to finish speaking before saying anything._  
_Johnny took that as his chance to speak. "I understand, Drac. A cousin of mine was going through the same thing when her husband passed away. I told her the same thing I'm going to tell you: follow what your heart's telling you. Trust me, it'll work out." He said as he took Mavis' hand._  
_"Your encouraging this?" Mavis said to Johnny, pulling her hand out of his, still feeling like this was some sort of betrayal to her mother. She turned to her father, "you asked for my blessing. The answer I'm giving you is no." She then stormed out, leaving a heartbroken Drac and a shocked Johnny in her wake._  
_Johnny found her later on the roof, after assuring Drac that he would talk to her. In all fairness he figured she'd be there before he even considered anywhere else, he just wanted to give her some space before speaking to her. "Mavis?" He asked as he walked along the roof, seeing her sitting on the slope. When he got no answer, as he carefully moved towards her, he began speaking. "Mavis, look at all of this from your dad's prospective: he's spent years looking after you and watched us get married, and has been a big part of Dennis' life too. He's obviously happy but-"_  
_"I know he is, but I just.. I never considered the idea of him being with anyone other than mom." She cut him off as he sat beside her, knowing he was right but unable to put anyone else on a pedestal like how she thought of her mother. "Am I wrong to have done that? Accused him and then stormed off like a child?" She looked at him with a sad expression that he'd never seen on her face before. It was heartbreaking, in a way, honestly._  
_"I don't think so." Johnny said. "It's normal, I've seen it with my cousin, I've seen it with my friends. It took some time, but everything eventually worked out. Everyone needs a chance to feel happy. And if things don't work out, we'll be here for him like we always are, right?" Johnny asked, taking her hand in his._  
_Mavis gripped his hand, a soft smile forming on her lips, "yeah." Johnny did have a point, her father had faced so many years where he had no one to help with Mavis, spent years juggling his family and the hotel without even pausing to take a breather. He deserved this, to find happiness for himself. "I'm ready to go talk to him about this again."_  
_Johnny smiled. "Great. Let's go find him." He said cheerfully before standing up, pulling her along with him. This was a leapt of faith, well not an actual physical leap but it was close enough, for Mavis to accept that even her father needed a change._  
Now  
_Mavis laughed, watching Dennis and Tinkles play outside from her spot behind the window. She had been reading a book by Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, that Linda had got her as a Christmas gift and had finally cracked it open. She couldn't believe that she had never read it before, but was ever so grateful that Linda got for her. She heard Johnny snore from his place on their bed, deciding to let him sleep in as he'd been staying up later to preform his DJ gigs at bar mitzvah events and weddings hosted at the hotel. With last night's event, a double booked wedding, being the longest one Johnny had been apart of. He was getting better at DJing, but that was a long one. Eventually, Mavis bookmarked her place in the book before setting it aside, got up from her chair and went over to her side of the bed where she moved onto the mattress beside him. She snuggled close, sighing in content as she breathed in his calming scent. It was so soothing, maybe she could sleep for a few hours, listen to his heart beat for a bit.._  
_Drac was out walking the grounds of the hotel, smiling as he walked along the grass. His smile, however, turned into a look of horror when Tinkles stampeded towards him. "Tinkles! No!" Drac's resistance was met with a slobbering tongue from a panting pup._  
_"Papa Drac!" Dennis called excitedly, rushing to them. He smiled when he saw Tinkles giving his Papa kisses, before the pup slurped Drac into his mouth. Only Drac's legs were visible, dangling out of the drooling pup's mouth._  
_Drac, once Tinkles dropped him to scratch an itch behind his ear, looked over at Dennis as he did his best to not yell at Tinkles while wiping dog slobber from himself. "Dennisavich, my boy! How are you?" Drac asked him with a smile, ignoring the slobber._  
_"I'm good!" Dennis said, smiling at Drac. "Tinkles and I were playing, but I guess he wanted a break to say hi."_  
_"You don't say." Drac said, not liking the feeling of the slobber in his hair or clothes as most was gone from his face now. "I was looking for my dad, the big vampire who smiles like this," Drac paused to frown like Vlad, getting a laugh from Dennis. "Have you seen him?"_  
_"You mean funny face?" Dennis asked before shaking his head. "No. Maybe he's getting a snack?" Dennis asked as his stomach grumbled. "Oops."_  
_Drac resisted a laugh at his grandson. He was so small and adorable. "I thought so. I was going to check the food area next, would you like to come?"_  
_"Yes please!" Dennis said with a smile, looking up at Drac._  
_The two made their way to the outdoor serving area, Dennis walking alongside Drac as Tinkles ran around the hotel grounds to his delight. They got some food, a meat-free omelette for Dennis and a plate of roasted spider filled spleen for Drac._  
_They talked for a long while about training and helping out around the hotel. That is, until Vlad joined them._  
_"Hey kid." Vlad greeted them both, a tall glass of goat's blood in hand._  
_"Hi dad." Drac said as he wiped his face of crumbs._  
_"Hi!" Dennis said before going back to his omelette._  
_"Uh, dad? Can we talk?" Drac asked after he finished his meal._  
_Vlad hummed around the rim of his glass. He finished his drink, looking at his son._  
_"Please. It's important." Drac said, looking at him._  
_"Alright. Is this a private thing? Or.." he trailed off._  
_"No, what I wanted to talk about Mavis and Johnny already know." Drac said, adjusting his ascot._  
_"Ah. So, let's hear it." Vlad wasn't even mad that Drac didn't tell him anything, his son's troubles weren't his. But this did seem to be important. He figured he'd hear the kid out, at least once._  
_"I zinged with someone." Drac said, telling it right out. "Well, actually she zinged with me..."_  
_"Good. Maybe now you won't mope so much." Vlad said, licking a stray bit of blood from the glass. "So, what's she like?" Ah, a chance to get involved in something that didn't involve him. Perfect._  
_"Her name's Ericka and she owns the flower shop in the village." Drac explained, looking over from wiping Dennis' mouth._  
_"Ah, a local girl." Vlad said with a smile._  
_Drac nodded, toying with a piece of meat left on his plate._  
_"Why so silent? Is she married? Seeing someone else?" Prying out of boredom, wanting to get some drama going._  
_"I don't know." Drac said, frowning. "Why do you care?"_  
_"I just wanted to maybe give you some advice.." No, Vlad was trying to stir up drama._  
_"Right.." Drac yawned, the spleen was more filling than he thought. "Come Dennisavich. Accompany Papa on a walk."_  
_"Okay!" Dennis got up and rushed to Drac, "bye funny face!"_  
_"Okay, bye." Vlad waved them off, before calling a busboy to his table._  
_Drac and Dennis walked for a bit, Drac telling Dennis tales of the places he traveled to many years ago. Dennis eventually fell asleep in Drac's arms, allowing Drac's mind to wander back to some months ago.._  
_Drac was painting a starry night from a bat's eye view, smiling to himself. He looked over when he heard the door open, smiling when he saw it was Mavis and Johnny. "Hey guys."_  
_Mavis walked over to Drac, a guilty look on his face before she took his hand and held her head high. "Dad, I'm sorry about what I said earlier.."_  
_Drac shook his head, holding Mavis' hands in his. "Don't worry, Mavy. It's okay."_  
_"No, it isn't." Mavis said, before looking at his face. "You deserve to be happy, and if that means being with someone other than mom, than I won't stand in your way." She smiled, hugging him. "I love you."_  
_"I love you too, Mavy. And thank you." Drac smiled, hugging Mavis close. He rolled his eyes when he felt Johnny join in the hug, but it was appreciated by Drac to know he had their support._  
_Drac sighed happily in remerbrance, setting Dennis on his racecar bed, humming Suffer, Suffer to him. He tucked him in, happily watching Dennis snuggle into bed. The vampire stretched, popping a few joints in his back. Hm.. Must be getting close to dawn.. Time for bed, he supposed._

**Author's Note:**

> rewrite of the original story Petals, Thorns, and Stimming Zings that I posted.


End file.
